Time now for End of Weekly looks at major political developments in Kentucky this week.

And we have a great duo with us.

We have Will Kali, who you see on screen left.

He's a Democratic strategist and he's the founder of Open Strategies.

Good to see you, Will.

And then here with us in the studio is Rebecca Hart.

So who is the senior political director of senior policy director that's got that mixed up for Babbitt's co-founder.

Good to see you in person.

So let's start before we start talking about Frankfort stuff.

The big, big news of the week, of course, was Mitch McConnell's decision to say he would not seek Republican leader after the November election.

Talk to us about how this possibly even punctuates even further the ideological shift in the Republican Party from the Reagan conservative era to now.

The populist Donald Trump era.

I'll let you go first, Rebecca.

Absolutely.

I definitely think we've seen a shift.

Leader McConnell acknowledged that in his comments on the floor when he spoke.

He said but don't don't think I don't understand politics.

There are many things that I have flaws and but not misunderstanding politics.

So he definitely sees the shift.

But how that sort of reverberates, we're going to have to see this this next election and Kentucky to sit still and really did sort of national politics.

I mean, he has been he's the longest serving leader of either party in the Senate.

An extraordinary career.

Lots of legacy there, whether it comes to the Supreme Court, just the institutional powers that he's always valued and he's strengthened, certainly.

I mean, he's he's got a strong legacy.

Many a speech, a Citizens United that that's also another place that he's made such an impact.

So, yeah, how do you see it will correlate and is this a time where Democrats can get an extra bit of arcs here?

Because Mitch McConnell, who had been the Democratic Party's nemesis for so long, will be in diminished power in a few months.

So I do think this is a passing of the torch from Chamber of Commerce, country Club Republicans.

There are more core parties to a rising wave of populism that is much more hateful and spiteful than they are productive members of the political system.

And I think Mitch McConnell, to his credit, though, has been the glue that has been holding that loose coalition between the two together for many years now.

And I think he's really going to be missed from the country, whether I agree with him politically or not.

I do think it's going to be a problem going forward for actually getting things done in Washington.

And as far as Democrats go.

I mean, I think we're not going to miss him.

But at the same time, I'm going to be curious to see what that actually means sometimes for Democratic fundraising in years where Mitch McConnell runs, because we have always ended up with very high cash, some races on a national stage because people have tried so hard to beat him.

And I hope that we don't lag behind in some of those numbers and people continue to be interested in Kentucky.

But it is a concern I think, that the party needs to be aware of.

Right.

And yes, that's a that's a good point there, Will.

And the presence that Kentucky has on the national stage with Rand Paul and with James Colmer and Mitch McConnell, when you lose one of the three, what does that do to our presence and influence on the national stage?

Well, Kentucky's always punched above its weight on the federal level, on the national level.

And losing him is certainly not a win for us in this role.

And he's still going to retain, I think, an immense level of power, even in his caucus, even in the chamber, despite not being not being the leader.

But, you know, we've got a really strong collection of GOP leaders, I mean, just in the state.

I mean, and they continue to rise.

I think Senator Paul is going to continue to rise in the rankings.

I think we've got our congressional folks doing the same.

And so it will be will be amazing to watch this and also who comes behind eventually if he chooses not to seek reelection.

We've got a stable full of candidates wanting to take that role here in the GOP.

So we'll have to wait and see what happens.

That's right.

So a day after the senior senators announcement that he was not going to be seeking reelection as Republican leader, there was some activity there in the state capitol.

There was a bill, House Bill 622, that does some things about filling a possible U.S. Senate vacancy.

What does it tell.

Us, Rebecca?

Yes.

House Bill 622 filed by the majority for leader, the GOP majority floor leader Stephen Rudy would make the US Senate vacancy a special election instead of something that can be appointed by the governor, which has historically been sort of the norm across the country.

So it's an interesting move.

As soon as this announcement that the bill was filed following the announcement, he did come out saying that it wasn't anything against Senator McConnell, but this is something that he believes in.

So it would be a definite shift and taking away another potentially power away from the governor.

Well, that's what I was just going to say to you.

Well, Carly, just another blow to the governor's power and authority to make appointments.

I think, yeah, this is another attempt by the Republican supermajority in the legislature to strip the governor of his constitutional powers as granted to him by the people of Kentucky.

This is not the first time or the last time we're going to see this kind of out of control behavior for people that are trying to consolidate power from the one place that they haven't been able to win lately in the last two elections.

And that's the governor's office.

Okay.

Real quickly, 20 seconds each.

What are you looking for next week?

We're two thirds through this session.

Only two bills have been delivered to the governor.

I know some people would question the the actual output of this Kentucky General Assembly.

Rebecca, what are you got your eyes on?

Well, we're on day today with day 43 of 60.

And so 17 days left.

That really and truly I'd say 15 because they want to come back for veto override.

So I expect we'll see a budget that's going to have the most important and pressing issue.

I could say that there will be one of those.

I'm also watching sort of the the the really high up bill, Senate bill one by President Stivers about creating an endowment fund for regional universities to do research that's extraordinary to see what they impact's going to be there.

That's what I'll be watching.

There's 20 bills about constitutional amendments.

Only four can make it on to the ballot.

So which one of these are really going to make it?

It's been wild to watch sort of the, frankly, kind of delays.

But we'll see.

We'll see what ends up happening.

Well, what are you got your eyes on?

To be honest, because it so far has been a nonproductive session.

I'm actually watching a lot of these bills that the legislature continues to pursue that are just absolutely ridiculous, as so many issues are based on trans people and marginalizing trans people and targeting trans people about how they can live their lives, what they're allowed to do, definitions about them, that actually creates a sense of them being others.

And we just saw Governor Bashir win an election where this was a hot issue for some reason, and he stuck by the trans community as he should have.

And now we're trying to do this again and it's a waste of taxpayer dollars.

And eventually we hope the legislature will come back, get their eye on the ball and do the work of the people of Kentucky, like working on kitchen table issues, working to improve our infrastructure, our health care, access to reproductive health, women, and continuing to actually function like adults.

All right.

We will leave it right there.

Carly Lockhart, so good to see you both.

Have a great weekend.